Some context before anyone says to get a gift card: I’m getting everyone books for Christmas. Some people in my life read a lot (like Mom) and some don’t read at all. I’m standing firm on the decision that everyone is getting books and they will all love the book they get and it will be the best Christmas ever.
Now to to my mom; My mom is in her early 50s, and reads multiple books per week. Her favorite genre is mystery/crime/thrillers and she has been a teacher for 30 years.
I worry that by just buying her a newer mystery novel/series she may like would be too simple, but I also don’t read mysteries at all. So I think I just feel out of my element here.
She’s a very smart, funny and outgoing person and enjoys a book that will draw her in and force her to read it in one day.
Favorite authors are: Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, Lee Child
Thank you in advance 🙂
by kikr97
18 Comments
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly, or also The Lincoln Lawyer by the same author.
The Killer Question by Janice Hallett has been recommended to me twice recently so I did just buy it for myself.
Avid reader always leads me to recommend the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. The first book is called The Eyre Affair. It’s set in a parallel version of 1985 and features Jane Eyre being kidnapped out of her book and held to ransom. The main character has to go inside fiction to fix things. She also has a pet dodo named Pickwick.
The series is quirky, fun, and packed with puns, literary references and famous fictional characters like Miss Havisham and the Cheshire cat in the sequels.
They aren’t thrillers but there are mysteries and crimes, just in a more fun setting than usual.
Look at
The Night in Question
Really good mystery about an older woman in a care home who solves a suspicious death but she also has secrets in her past….
a) you are going to be disappointed (christmas is always disappointing, that’s why I don’t do it anymore)
b) why not venture outside the American writers for you mom? Scandi Noir is awesome, [Here is a list](https://www.voguescandinavia.com/articles/best-scandi-noir-books) by Vogue Scandinavia of the best Scandi Noir books. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is an incredible book. I read it in one summer afternoon, in the garden on a swing sofa. I couldn’t stop reading and at about page 200 I exclaimed, OMG something happened. lol it’s that kind of book. It’s deceptive, it’s enthralling and you just can’t stop reading it.
There are some really good Canadian thriller writers. She’ll love any of the books by Chevy Stevens, and the Cardinal series by Giles Blunt is so good. First book is called Forty Words for Sorrow. You can’t go wrong with the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. First one is called Still Life.
River of Darkness by Airth
A Curious Beginning by Raybourn
Soulless by Carriger
Moleskine makes a reading journal that’s really nice, I got one for my mom who reads a lot last christmas and she loved it..just another route you could go!
Malibu Burning and series by Lee Goldberg (smart mysteries, 3 out so far, not super popular (yet) so hopefully she hasn’t read them.)
The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu (teacher related fiction – really great!)
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (this seems to be most women’s fave of the whole year, if she hasn’t read it yet – everyone in my book club of 40 something ladies adored it)
Theo the Golden (I haven’t read this yet, but everyone is abuzz about it. It’s newer so maybe she hasn’t read it yet.)
My husband loves reading same type of books. We only buy secondhand books because there is something genuinely warming about reading a book someone else has enjoyed. Sometimes you get lucky and find notations, names, dates, store receipts, also very cool in finding out where the book may be from. First recommendation is the Bruno Chief of police series. He absolutely loved the character as he solved crimes and enjoyed French food, wine and locales. Look up Cain’s Jawbone if she is true detective at heart and puzzle solver. It’s hard to explain but it is a literary puzzle to physically take apart and reorder logically to reveal 6 murders and their killers. I buy little gadgets on Etsy, the list of book related items is never ending, novel book lights (for each room), handmade wooden page holder, my son loves the one that goes over his thumb the best, monogrammed book stickers and book plates, book embossers, handcrafted leather book marks , I also purchase book marks designed on etsy of their favorite things to print out cut & laminate,like my son loves Viking stuff, I found an artist who does beautiful authentic drawings, book reading review boxes, keepsake book trackers to display, unique book stands….ill tell you the stuff on Etsy will keep your mums birthday & holidays filled with cool book themed gifts for years & years and years.
JD Robb in death series. Best in order and there are a LOT.
Has she done Tony Hillerman?
Check out books by Kathy Reichs. The author is a forensic anthropologist and so the forensics and science in the books is real. Her books were the basis for the tv show Bones. The books follow Temperance Brendon, a forensic anthropologist, who splits her time between Montreal and North Carolina. Really great books
Try Blacktop Wasteland or Razorblade Tears by S A Cosby. If she likes loner, rule breaking, looking out for underdogs Jac Reacher, she’ll like Cosby’s anti-heroes.
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman is fairly new (out this year) and coming from another huge reader, i think she’d love it
The Circle and the Crow if you can get it in time from Amazon. Cozy mystery with an Edgar Allan Poe theme.
Stephen Hunter Bob Lee Swagger series,
James R. Benn Billy Boyle series,
Jana DeLeon Miss Fortune series,
Margaret Mizushima Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series,
CJ Box Joe Pickett series,
Nevada Barr Anna Pigeon series
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
JD Robb In Death series
Iris Johansen,
John Sandford,
William Kent Kruger,
Todd Borg,
Ann Cleeves would be perfect. She wrote the Vera Stanhope books and a bunch of other series. JD James is another good choice. Both British authors with long series.
Highly recommend Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes
It’s classified as a mystery but it’s not a mystery in the traditional sense. It’s also very funny. As someone who also reads a lot, it was so refreshing to read something so thoroughly original.